Gordon Brown to woo religious voters for next election

Labour is to woo religious voters ahead of the next general election after a study claimed the Government does not understand faith groups.

By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent

7:22PM BST 12 Jun 2008

Gordon Brown has launched a consultation with religious groups in order to ask them their views on current issues and what they think the party's policies should be.

Labour says the responses it receives will then be fed into its manifesto ahead of the next general election, which must take place within the next two years, to show how much it values the opinions of the faithful.

It comes just days after a landmark report found the Government has no evidence about the role faith groups play in society, and ignores Christianity at the expense of Islam.

A series of senior figures in the Church of England have also condemned Labour in recent weeks over its moral failings, while Christian and Muslim groups were particularly vocal in their opposition to the Iraq war.

Mr Brown said at a Downing Street reception to launch the Labour, Faith and Faithworks taskforce: "What we are celebrating is the tremendous contribution that faith groups make to our community.

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"There's nothing wrong with Britain which couldn't be solved by what's right about Britain."

Stephen Timms, the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform who is working on the taskforce, said afterwards that the consultation would lead directly to policies in Labour's manifesto, and that religious issues could be key at the next election.

He said: "This consultation is very important to us because we want our party to understand what people in faith groups are saying. We want to listen to what the communities are saying and respond in our policies to that.

"I think it's potentially important for the election. I do think the faith community is an increasingly significant part of civil society.

"There's a lot of work going on and I do think this will be one of the sources from which the manifesto will be drawn."

However Mr Timms would not be drawn on whether Labour would adopt policies suggested by faith groups to which it has previously been opposed, such as tighter rules on abortion or the introduction of elements of Islamic law.